Container

ABSTRACT

A container having a body which defines a volume for storing a liquid. The body has a sidewall and the container also has a cover arranged to be mounted to the body. The sidewall and the cover are arranged such that, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space is defined between the cover and the sidewall in which an article may be stored. The container may be a bottle made from plastics material and the cover may be pivotally attached to the body so that it can be moved from a first position in which access to the space is permitted to a second position in which access to the space is restricted. The article may be a cleaning tool.

The present invention relates to a container and in particular, but notexclusively, to a container for separately storing liquid and a cleaningdevice.

Containers for cleaning products are often used together with cleaningdevices such as cloths or brushes to clean domestic appliances and worksurfaces. In many cases, effectively cleaning a particular appliance orsurface using a specific type of cleaning product requires the use of aparticular type of cleaning device. For example, a sponge is often usedin combination with an antibacterial spray to clean kitchen worktops.However, these cleaning devices tend to be easily misplaced and cantherefore become separated from the cleaning products with which theyare intended to be used. This is especially undesirable when thecleaning tool is not readily available and is specifically designed totackle a particular cleaning job. An object of the invention is tomitigate these difficulties.

According to the present invention there is provided a containercomprising a body defining a volume for storing a liquid, the bodyhaving a sidewall, the container further comprising a cover arranged tobe mounted to the body, the sidewall and the cover being arranged suchthat, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space is defined betweenthe cover and the sidewall in which an article may be stored.

Advantageously, the space defined by the sidewall and the cover providesan easily accessible and visible compartment for the storage of acleaning device on the body of the spray dispenser without compromisingthe stability of the container when in an upright position.

Preferably, the sidewall is recessed. More preferably, the sidewall isconcave. Preferably, the volume defined by the bottle extends beneaththe concave sidewall. Preferably the body is blow moulded and the coveris injection moulded.

The cover may be shaped and configured to define the space between thesidewall and the cover when mounted to the body. Preferably, the coveris pivotally mounted to the body. More preferably, the cover has a firstposition in which access to the space is permitted and a second positionin which access to the space is restricted. Preferably the cover is atleast partially transparent. The cover may have one or more apertures topromote ventilation of the space when the cover is mounted to the bodyand/or enable the space to be viewed when the cover is in the secondposition.

Preferably, the container is a bottle. More preferably, the bottle hasan opening at its top to which a spray bottle head, for example atrigger spray, is mounted.

The container may additionally comprise an article stored within thespace. Preferably, the article is a cleaning device. Preferably, thecleaning device is shaped and configured to fit within the space. Morepreferably, the cleaning device is comprised of one or more constituentparts that may be dismantled and arranged in a configuration that fitswithin the space when the cover is in the second position. Morepreferably, one or more parts fit within another part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, anembodiment therefore will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a bottle according to the invention when thecover is in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bottle according to the invention when thecover is in the open position;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a section of the bottle shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a section of the body shown in FIGS. 1and 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a section of the body shown inFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cover shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 is a side view of a cleaning tool in a storage configuration;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the cleaning tool shown in FIG. 7 when in anassembled configuration;

FIG. 9 is a side view of the handle of the cleaning tool shown in FIGS.7 and 8;

FIG. 10 is an underside view of the handle shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of the brush head of the cleaning tool shown inFIGS. 7 and 8;

FIG. 12 is a side view of the brush head shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a side view of an alternative handle for use with the brushhead shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 when in an extended position;

FIG. 14 is a side view of the handle shown in FIG. 13 when in acollapsed (storage) position;

FIG. 15 is an enlarged plan view of the connection point of the handleshown in FIGS. 13 and 14 when in a partially collapsed state; and

FIG. 16 is an alternative view of the handle shown in FIG. 15;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the bottle 1 comprises a body 2 made fromblow moulded plastics material, a cover 3 made from injection mouldedplastics material and a plastic trigger spray head 4. The body 2comprises a sidewall 5 which is concave in shape, a threaded opening 8at its top permitting access to the bottle interior for the spray head4, two outwardly extending plastic studs 6 formed at approximately thesame point on opposite sides respectively of the body 4 and a protrusion9 extending down from the top of the sidewall 5.

The cover 3 is shaped and configured such that, when in the closedposition, it defines a space between the sidewall 5 and the walls of thecover 3. In this embodiment, the shape of the cover is chosen to be suchthat it follows the original contours of the walls of the bottle andcompletes the overall appearance of the bottle 1. As shown in FIG. 6,the cover 3 is therefore generally U-shaped in cross section havingcurved edges that correspond to the shape of the concave sidewall toenable the cover to be comfortably seated against the sidewall 5. Thecover 3 is pivotally mounted at one end on the body 2 via the two studs6 which fit within complementary holes formed in the cover 3. The cover3 can therefore be moved from a first position in which it is pivotedaway from the body 2, thereby permitting access to the space defined bythe cover 3 and the concave sidewall 5, to a second position in which itis closed on the body 2, thereby restricting access to the space definedby the concave sidewall 5 and the cover 3.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, extending out from the end of the cover 3remote from the pivotally mounted end toward the sidewall 5 is a pair ofarms 10 each having a wedge shaped formation 18 extending toward theother arm 10. The arms 10 are spaced apart from one another a distanceslightly greater than the width of the protrusion 9. The arms 10 andwedges 18 are sized and configured to fit around the protrusion 9 of thebody when the cover 3 is in the closed position. The wedges 18 aretherefore tapered on their protrusion facing side to promote theirpassage around the protrusion 9 and substantially flat on their oppositeside to restrict the passage of the arms 10 back around the protrusion9. The sidewalls of the protrusion 9 are likewise tapered to permit orrestrict the arms 10 from passing around the protrusion depending onwhether the cover 3 is being moved to or from a closed position.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, to further enhance the securing capabilityof the arms, two shallow recesses 11 are located on opposite sides ofthe protrusion 9 respectively at the interface between the protrusionand the sidewall 5. The recesses 11 are sufficiently shallow to receivethe wedges 18 and thus retain the cover 3 in place when in the closedposition. The arms 10 and protrusion 9 together form a latch means. Asshown in FIGS. 3 and 6, a cutout section 17 of the cover 3 between thetwo arms 10 is provided which corresponds to the external dimensions ofthe protrusion 9. Thus, when in the closed position, the protrusion 9 isseated within the cutout section 17 of the cover 3.

The body 4 is chosen to be made from blow moulded plastics material, forexample high density polyethylene (HDPE), which gives rise to asubstantially rigid body ideal for containing liquids and for providinga structure that can be placed in a stable, upright position. However,it is generally more difficult to make an accurately moulded productusing blow moulded plastics material than injection moulded plasticsmaterial. Thus, the tolerances achieved by blow moulding tend to begreater than injection moulding. The protrusion 9 is therefore mouldedso that it is narrower than the distance between the two arms 10. Sincethe cover 3 and, hence, the arms 10 made are from a resilient plasticsmaterial, the arms 10 have a high degree of resilience or flex andbecause they are injection moulded can be made with relatively lowertolerances than the protrusion 9. Arranging for the arms 10 to engageopposite sides of the protrusion 9 enables the size of the protrusion 9to be minimized thus enabling variation in size of the protrusion 9 as aresult of moulding tolerances to be accommodated by the resilience ofthe arms 10.

The cover 3 is chosen to be translucent to permit visual access to thecover interior when in the closed position. Six apertures 7 are formedin, and toward, the free end of the cover 3 to permit ventilation of thecover interior when in the closed position. Thus a wet cloth or brushcan be placed within the compartment formed by the body 2 and the cover3 without affecting the ability of the cleaning device to dry out.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown a cleaning tool 12 adapted tofit within the space or compartment defined by the cover 3 and the body2 when in the closed position. The cleaning tool 12 comprises aninjection moulded plastic handle 13 and an injections moulded plasticcleaning brush head 14 each shown respectively in FIGS. 9 and 10 andFIGS. 11 and 12. The handle 13 takes the form of a closed loop whoseshape roughly corresponds to that of the compartment and its dimensionsare such that it fits within the compartment when the cover 3 is in theclosed position. The handle 13 has a flat portion 15 having twosubstantially co-planar flanges 19 extending from opposite sides of theflat portion 15 respectively and which engage with two correspondingrecesses 20 within a receiving portion 21 of the base of the brush head14. The handle 13 and brush head 14 can therefore be releasably engagedby sliding the flat portion 15 of the handle 13 into the receivingportion 21 of the brush head 14.

The base 16 of the brush head 14 is smaller in size than the internaldimensions of the space defined by the closed loop handle 13 and cantherefore be inserted within the handle. The bristles of the brush head14 are sufficiently resilient to retain the brush head within the handle13 when in the inserted position. Thus, the cleaning tool 12 can bebroken down into smaller constituent parts and arranged in a storageconfiguration suitable for storage within the compartment defined by thesidewall 2 and the cover 3 when in the closed position.

Referring to FIGS. 13 to 16, the handle 25 of the cleaning tool mayalternatively comprise two component parts, a gripping part 26 and abrush head receiving part 27, pivotally mounted to one another andhaving a first position (shown in FIG. 13) in which the two parts arefully extended so that a brush head 14 can be releasably engaged and asecond position in which the two parts are folded in upon themselves. Inthe second position, the handle 25 is sufficiently small to fit withinthe compartment defined by the sidewall 2 and the cover 3 when in theclosed position. The receiving part 27 of the handle 25 has a pair ofcoplanar flanges 28 extending from opposite sides of the receiving part27 respectively. The flanges 28 are similar to those found on the handleshown in FIGS. 9 and 10 and permit a brush head 14 to be releasablyengaged with the handle 25.

Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, the gripping part 26 of the handle 25 hasa pair of shallow linear recesses 29 on opposite sides respectively ofthe gripping part that extend a distance from the pivot point 31. Therecesses 29 are sized and configured to receive a pair of linearprotrusions 30 formed on opposite sides respectively of the inner regionof the brush head receiving part 27. The protrusions 30 are positionedon the brush head receiving part 27 so that, when in the extendedposition shown in FIG. 13, they are seated within the recesses 29 of thegripping part 26. Thus, the component parts 26, 27 of the handle 25 canbe releasably engaged with one another when in the extended position.

It is of course to be understood that the above embodiments have beendescribed by way of example only and that many variations are possiblewithout departing from the scope of the invention.

1. A container comprising a body defining a volume for storing a liquid,the body having a sidewall, the container further comprising a coverarranged to be mounted to the body, the sidewall and the cover beingarranged such that, when the cover is mounted to the body, a space isdefined between the cover and the sidewall in which an article may bestored.
 2. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sidewall isrecessed.
 3. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sidewall isconcave.
 4. A container as claimed in claim 3, wherein the volumedefined by the bottle extends beneath the concave sidewall.
 5. Acontainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body is blow molded and thecover is injection molded.
 6. A container as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe cover is shaped and configured to define the space between thesidewall and the cover when mounted to the body.
 7. A container asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the cover is pivotally mounted to the body8. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover has a firstposition in which access to the space is permitted and a second positionin which access to the space is restricted.
 9. A container as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the cover is at least partially transparent.
 10. Acontainer as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cover has one or moreapertures to promote ventilation of the space when the cover is mountedto the body and/or enable the space to be viewed when the cover is inthe second position.
 11. A container as claimed in claim 1, wherein thecontainer is a bottle.
 12. A container as claimed in claim 11, whereinthe bottle has an opening at its top to which a spray bottle head, forexample a trigger spray, is mounted.
 13. A container as claimed in claim1, wherein the container further comprises an article stored within thespace.
 14. A container as claimed in claim 13, wherein the article is acleaning device.
 15. A container as claimed in claim 14, wherein thecleaning device is shaped and configured to fit within the space.
 16. Acontainer as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cleaning device iscomprised of one or more constituent parts that may be dismantled andarranged in a configuration that fits within the space when the cover isin the second position.
 17. A container as claimed in claim 16, whereinone or more parts fit within another part.